A perfect female body, bit by bit

 Every woman is looking for the perfect female body. So is every man. ...An old joke that. This is how mine's coming along, bit by bit.

 

Sports and diet 

It's never dull where I live and there are a lot of big events coming up, not least the Winter Olympics based in Milan, Cortina and other Alpine locations. I watched the Olympic torch being carried past last Saturday.

 

 

I went to a sport-mad school and did enough sports there to last me for pretty much the rest of my life so I have little interest in them now. As far as winter sports go, I did learn to ski 25 years ago and quite enjoyed it but my calculation of enjoyment vs. cold + discomfort + expense is too heavy on the bad stuff to convince me to pursue it. So, last Saturday, rather than getting into a sporty mood after the torch ceremony, I treated myself at my favourite restaurant. Lifting forks to my mouth is great forearm exercise and I have fabulous wrists as a result of daily practice. I chose the leanest things on the menu: an octopus starter, then fresh pasta with cuttlefish ink and sauce, both really good. I was a good girl and had no wine. I've lost over 3 kilos (half a stone) since New Year so I'm back on track for the body shape I want.

 

Surgery 

Talking of a perfect female body, my friend Roz, who had her gender recognition surgery, facial feminisation surgery and breast augmentation surgery all done last year (but thankfully not all at the same time), tells me she is more proportioned, more feminine and very, very happy indeed. I'm very, very happy for her, too. For once, it seems that someone got good surgery throughout, so a definite win for transition there.

 

Nails 

The one thing that I was looking forward to a couple of months ago was having fun with nail varnish. Unfortunately, shortly after that, I managed to break a nail on my right hand very badly. Half the entire nail was cracked, and the bleeding and bruising were severe. I had to bandage my finger for a couple of weeks, in fact. Strangely, I've no idea how it happened. Other nails are damaged too. It's been over six weeks since the accident and it'll take several more to get back to where I was. 

This week I have been sniffing around the January sales. Yes, there are various boring household appliances I need to get but I am looking for that killer dress, yet to be spotted. I'll buy some new nail varnish when my nails are ready for it. 

 

Legs 

As for legs, it's not the first time I've enthused about Marks & Spencer Body Sensor 40 denier tights but, as last winter, I have been wearing these most days and they are terrific. 

 

Durable, with a good quality/price ratio, they team equally well with smart or casual looks. Warm yet not too thick, I find they don't slip down even after many washes or as the day progresses, and pill only slowly. I've not laddered any and damage has been only toe holes after long use. Highly recommended, therefore. These are my current Top Tights and probably second best ever (first was John Lewis 15 denier run resistant sheer gloss tights, sadly discontinued). I note you can get them in 30, 60, 80, 100 and 120 D, too, and they're now £9 for 3 in UK stores. I have always opted for opaques in 70D but these do a warming job just as well. So well done, M&S. 

Wearing M&S 40D Body Sensor tights

 

Keep warm

Keep warm and stay pretty this winter. It's certainly warmed up here since last week, which was uniquely cold, and these past two days I've eaten lunch outside. So has this early bumblebee. I've never seen one so soon after new year.

 

Have a nice weekend. For good mental health, don't watch the news but get into your favourite outfit and feel happy. 

Sue x 

A witch in high heels

 I ended my holiday dressathon (or 12 Days of Dressmas) dressed as the Befana. She's the kindly local Epiphany witch who brings children treats, as explained at the end of my last post. There were a lot of other women dressed as Befana round here, too; she's a figure as common as Santa is at Christmas. My next-door neighbours returned from their fortnight away and I'm fairly sure they saw me dressed as a witch but, far from arousing attention, that's normal at this season. I like to blend in!

Two years ago I bought a very cheap witch costume and silver wig for Hallowe'en and had some fun with them. Both the nylon wig and the dress, despite its light material with floating cobwebs, are more robust than I thought, and the hat is very versatile, so I thought I'd wear them again to be Befana. This time, though, I matched them with the cobweb pattern elbow-length gloves and tights that last saw action way back, 15 years ago in fact, at the Magic Theatre's Hallowe'en Ball at the Rivoli Ballroom in London. I also wore my smart new shoes. To blend the silver upper half with the shoes better, I layered the cobweb tights over tan ones to give a better progression to the more colourful shoes. As a general rule, open pattern tights tend to slip on better over sheers anyway.

Here is the final result, holding my Befana doll (who is stuffed full of chocolates ... there's no room for mere ornaments round here!)

 

I made some magic potion (well, it's that lovely violet and rose scented French tea in my lemon shaped teapot).

I don't have a magic wand but maybe a smiley-faced wooden spoon would bring a little New Year magic to the world? 

Phew, all these potions and positive spells sure wear a girl out. Time for a rest. 

So many cobwebs! I admit my outfit is more Goddess of the Spiders than Well-Meaning Witch with her patched worsted dress and cape! Oh, well!

This is what's hidden in the doll...

 

This was a lot of fun. Let's hope I've cast enough sweetness and magic to defy the malign spells of the Wicked Wizard of the West.

I dress as a woman every day but usually in casual stuff so it's not often that there's an excuse to wear all my dresses day after day. This dressathon was also a good exercise for me as it enabled me to see how long I could tolerate makeup. I was in makeup for about seven days in all, including four in a row. I know it meant that this Christmas and New Year was less sociable than usual but I thought I'd take advantage of nearly all the neighbours being absent and the fact that I'd already seen a great deal of my nearest relative last year.

Thanks for reading. Have a lovely 2026. 

Sue x 

Perfumes, all in good odour ... and not

I've been enjoying perfumes old and new this Christmas and New Year season. My all-time favourites remain Versace's Crystal Noir and Forever by Laura Biagiotti.

 

I was a bit disappointed that my Crystal Noir seemed to lack potency, more like a mild eau de cologne than a proper perfume. Manufacturers do change their formulas but I felt that this was a dilution too far. Then I realised that I must have bought this bottle at least 12 years ago and didn't get to use much before getting sick and moving abroad so it has actually faded naturally in all that time. It's annoying because the bottle wasn't exactly cheap. So I have been spraying it quite liberally to get more oomph. I forgot that, by contrast, my bottle of Forever was pretty new and, being used to the weaker perfume, I absent mindedly sprayed myself liberally with that on New Year's Eve, didn't notice its strength at the time because I spent an hour and a half outdoors in the cold watching fireworks. I woke the next morning with a headache that worsened all that day till I finally realised that it was the perfume that was causing it. All my clothes and bedsheets smelt of it and even my morning shower hadn't diluted it much either. 

So pay attention to what you are doing. Big smells need small doses.

As an aside, I have had much greater success with a lovely scented tea. I like to get a spiced tea for Christmas and this year I bought one at the Christmas market in Monaco. This "Macaron Violette" blend from Maison Bourgeon has a scent that I can only describe as ravishing. A mix of green and black teas with violet and jasmine flowers, rose and cornflower petals, mallow, and safflower oil, it has a scent so pretty, so soft and delicate, so intoxicating that its effect on me is like catnip to a cat. I want to roll in it! I wonder if it would make good pot pourri? 

 

I've been addicted to violet, either the candied flowers or the essence in sweets or other foods, ever since I ate a hand-made voilet flavoured lollipop from a stall on a beach in Brittany one summer, aged 13. Violet is like a drug to me. I don't want rehab; just give me the number of a good local dealer!

As another aside, for Christmas one of my sisters gave me some more things for my garden, such as seeds and hanging tubs. Ever practical, she gave me a sack of compost, too! I've never received compost as a gift before. I think I prefer the smell of the tea!

 

In bad odour

Talking of leaving bad smells...

I welcome all comments that are relevant. If you are advertising your site or product and it's trans related then I don't mind, although making additional comments of the actual contents of my post would be nice. 

But don't be crass and thoughtless. I'm looking at you, Chat Urbate. Posting your links to your saucy site under my report on the TGirl bar at the Erotica Fair is one thing; doing the same under the obituary of my beloved friend Bobby whom I miss very much is about as insensitive as it gets, so I've deleted all of your selfish ads. 

Film star Brigitte Bardot, who died a few days ago, gets no tribute either. Active for animal rights yet spewing hate against the LGBT community and foreigners. Er, you want exposure and adulation, yet most of your fans are foreign so you hate them? You can't have your cake and eat it. This is what we always find with extremists: no consistency in approach. According to Ms Bardot, animals deserve greater rights; some humans deserve none. I find that people who treat others right tend to treat animals right, too. 

 

Witchy time

Today is a public holiday in Italy. In a centuries-old tradition, a kindly witch called the Befana brings children sweets and in previous ages it was usual for people to give and receive presents today rather than on Christmas Day. Obviously, it's only the good children who get sweets; the bad ones get garlic. If you're lucky, Befana will sweep your floor with her broom before she rides away on it. 

My Befana doll that, like a Christmas stocking, is filled with sweets

So, as I didn't get to do anything at Hallowe'en last year because of caring duties, I'm ending my Christmas Dressathon, aka Dressmas, with a stint as Befana, the kindly old witch. More in the next post. Now where did I put that broomstick?

Sue x  

Positive resolutions and dressathon update

 Happy New Year! I wish you a peaceful, worry-free, happy year ahead. Those are my own aims for 2026 anyway. If the world would just comply, that would be dandy.

Actually, in terms of New Year's resolutions, apart from losing weight, finding the ultimate lover, winning the lottery, yadda yadda, you know the drill, I do intend to keep focusing here on the positives and nice aspects of being transgender. It's not easy being trans; trying to find one's way in a world that, at best, merely tolerates minorities or those with less usual circumstances, but I'm finding ways that work for me. If I share anything that helps even one other trans or LBGT+ person in their living or coping or even flourishing strategy, then this blog serves a purpose. Positive blogging is the new cool in this second quarter of the century. 

Sorry, does the word "cool" show my age? Substitute whatever word da kidz say nowadays, then. (Are they even "da kidz" now? I struggle to keep up!) And talking of nomenclature, Lynn over on YATGB and Jonathan on Male Femme and I are discussing the merits of the term Posiblogging. Could we set up a League of Posibloggers perhaps? Or the Goddesses of the Positive Blog League? As a Posiblog Goddess (or Demigoddess, since I am not full time) let me wish you a divine 2026.

 

Dressmas news

So I decided to spend the traditional 12 days of Christmas wearing dresses rather than my usual casual attire and seeing how much time I could spend with makeup on. I struggle with cosmetics that, like many products, can cause me unsightly and painful skin reactions. 

I wrote about my Dressathon choices over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day here. December 27th was a lovely day: mild, clear and sunny. I sat out in the sun in the short summer dress that you've seen a hundred times before. Really I should wear leggings with it but my current favourite winter tights are just too comfy, so a lot of leg it is in the photo. Those are my new ankle boots that I'm breaking in as they are quite rigid and need softening up. 

 

My chosen perfume of the day was Sì by Giorgio Armani that, thankfully, was only a sample bottle as, to start with, I thought it made me smell a bit like a cucumber sandwich. The aroma did get better with time and was not unpleasant as the day wore on but I don't think I'll be investing in a full bottle of this. Who says TGirls aren't good enough to eat?

Talking of which, I even enjoyed lunch outdoors in the sun, a classic local dish of pasta strips and pesto sauce that's made with basil, pine nuts, cheese, garlic and olive oil. I treated myself to a tiny bottle of prosecco, too, because it's holiday time and because it's worth celebrating being fully feminine. That left one little bottle for New Year's Eve (see below). 

 

The brand name of the prosecco, incidentally, is Maschio, which means "Male" in Italian. Sorry, guys, no matter how much of this I drink, your masculinising potion is not working! 

After four days in makeup, even with the expensive quality primers, foundation, concealers and blushers from Mac, and my gentle removal products from Avène, my skin was very dry and flaky so I decided to give the makeup a rest for a bit. But I did prove that four days with my face on is now possible, which means I could now manage a good long weekend away at some trans event. This is great news after 10+ years of struggling with this problem. 

So I next got made up on New Year's Eve and watched the annual fireworks display (with that last precious tiny bottle of prosecco - yes, I was rationing it because wine makes me fat and I'm tired of being fat).

My camera is hopeless in the dark, especially with moving light displays, so I have no picture of me sitting outdoors that night. Besides, the temperature plummeted, so I was kitted out with puffer jacket, two fleeces, a slip under my long dress and my long boots, all under a blanket. But here's me when I'd come back indoors to toast us all a Happy New Year. 

 

Still, it was a good New Year display with a light show, then a drone show (which we've never had before) making attractive, colourful, moving representations of local landmarks, events, sports, and a gorgeous red rose to acknowledge our winter flower industry. And then, as midnight struck, there was the civic fireworks display which I always enjoy and which is accompanied by as many bangs and flashes as residents can manage from their own gardens and balconies. Apologies to the startled bat trying to go about its evening business whilst illuminated by flashes from every angle like in Dracula's disco. (More on bats below.)

Yesterday, New Year's Day, was really cold with a keen wind and I kept the same long dress, and even the boots indoors. By evening, I finally had to admit that the time had come to turn on the central heating. So for the first time since last April, the radiators are now operating. And as for my gas company who, in the true spirit of the season of goodwill, sent me a bill on Christmas Eve, it looks like the cigars in your boardroom will be smaller this coming year after the many weeks of savings the mild weather has given me. Have a happy new year, won't you!

However, it looks like it's going to be a uniquely cold week ahead and I was hoping to wear another short cotton dress during my Dressmas but that's very unlikely now. I'll try to stick to my Dressmas plans but my lined ski pants are on standby if need be! (Incidentally, if you like skiing, some of the best snow so far this winter is here in the Ligurian and Maritime Alps.) 

 

Dry January

That was my last glass of prosecco for a while. I'm doing Dry January again this year as leaving alcohol off the menu really helps lose weight more than anything. Perhaps that's a pity as someone - who obviously knows me well - gave me a novelty corkscrew for Christmas. 

 

It's a bat! I love it and it gives me the giggles each time I use it and its batty arms unfurl. Apparently, it was designed during the pandemic when bats were bad news so, in a fine example of making lemonade when life gives you lemons (or wine when there are sour grapes, I suppose), they came up with this. 

 

The party continues

In England where I used to live, my main complaint about winter was not so much the cold and dark and wet, which is no-one's fault, but the fact that between New Year and Easter there are no public holidays and no significant public celebrations or activities. Therefore, you have three or more months of doing nothing but working. How delightfully puritanical! By contrast, here in the hotbed of popery that is the Mediterranean, the gloom of winter is combated by a whole lineup of big events. We have another public holiday next Tuesday, January 6th (Epiphany); then Carnival, the Menton Lemon Festival and the gigantic Sanremo Music Festival in February; the Cycling Season opens here in March with the Flower Festival and Sanremo Pride. There's always something to keep your mind off the shorter, colder days. I'll report back. 

Once again, all the best for 2026.

Sue x 

Ending 2025

 2025 has been an unusual year, very much dominated by the needs of a relative of mine who has been very sick; that cancelled a lot of plans. However, I'm pleased to say that he is now better and tomorrow, when he picks up his car, we will genuinely be able to say that he has returned to normal. It's been quite a saga. 

Although this is a summary of my year, photos in this post have not appeared on my site before.

 

Dressing in 2025 

I dress as a woman every day but, because I am worried about my skin's severe sensitivity to modern products, I rarely wear makeup so I rarely post photos of myself now. Without makeup I look like a superannuated Seventies rock star, but without the cool attributes, so I don't photograph myself like that. But TGirls have a symbiotic relationship with cameras so I do make an effort occasionally when the blogosphere needs convincing that I am still alive and not an AI bot churning out trans content. So I did take photos at home in January, did a bit of musical cosplay in February, wore my new summer dress and tried out a smart summer look in July, was a bit of a pink whale in August, tried my new footwear in December and now I'm on a Dressathon over the Christmas and New Year period - more on that soon.

Memories 

I've also started going through files of old photos and have introduced a new series of posts entitled a Trip Down Memory Card Lane. So far I've put up photos of visits to Kew Gardens with friends (with thanks to Dee for many of those) and the Great Drag Race (with thanks to Ange and the organisers for those).

Before the Great Drag Race 2010

 

Holidays 

Holidays and exploration are some of my most popular posts. I did manage to get away to some interesting places in the spring, including Monaco in February, Nice (France) in March, San Marino in April and Salisbury (Britain) in May. I had planned much longer trips to Germany in the spring and Britain in the autumn but they had to be cancelled because of my relative's situation. However, if you are interested in photos of my area, join me on my autumn tour guide of well known parts of the riviera like Nice, Monaco, Sanremo and Ventimiglia here and here (or lesser known yet prettier parts like Ospedaletti and Coldirodi here or Bordighera here). If you like window shopping, then you may enjoy reading about about Milan's fashion district. Or enjoy my Christmas illuminations viewing on the riviera in December. 

Luggy the LGBT Crab who sometimes accompanies me on my travels.

 

No meetups 

My main 2025 resolution to meet up with trans girls close to home didn't materialise. That's nothing to do with my relative's illness but the fact that national trans groups, like Arcigay, even though they have a local group here, are into political campaigning more than socialising or, like Crossdresser Italia, are based in cities hundreds of miles away. I recall my early days of going out in the UK when I travelled long distances and spent a fortune on hotels and restaurants just to be able to meet other trans friends, and it's something I'd prefer not to have to repeat here if possible. But the thought only recently struck me that since I am tucked in a corner of Italy far from the action but with France's most LGBT friendly city (Nice) just down the road, maybe I should investigate there. Now why didn't I think of that before? (Now picture Homer Simpson dressed as Marge exclaiming D'OH!)

 

Positive blogging 

The world is a mess right now but I take comfort from the fact that the chief messers are incompetent and the chaos is, on the whole, more noise than substance. The anti trans sentiment is simply a way of focusing the attention of political personality cult followers away from their incompetence and towards a simple-to-target minority. Yet that miniscule minority is actually way larger than is believed, it's just that the overwhelming majority of trans people are hidden from view. You can't successfully eliminate what is largely unknown and already invisible! 

Hiding in plain sight

 

So here on Sue's News & Views I try as often as I can to find positive things to focus on amid the chaos. My latest photo (below) is of me earlier this week enjoying winter sunshine outdoors surrounded by aromatic herbs in an old favourite dress and my brand new boots. I'm perfectly happy with simple things like this and even more with simply the ability just to be who I am.

 

Tonight I'll be eating a traditional New Year's Eve dinner of cotechino sausage and lentils (see pic here) and seeing in the New Year by watching the local drone and fireworks display in my oldest and most comfortable dress. So let me wish you the very best for 2026. I hope it will be free from worries, stress, loss and fear.

Investment tip for 2026. Do what I have just done: spend just one metal money for loads of chocolate money ... and now tell me the future doesn't look happier now!

 

Thank you for reading my blog. It's always means a lot to me that people follow the thoughts, feelings and adventures of a trans person trying to live her life.

Sue x

The 12 Days of Dressmas

 How are you? I hope you had a lovely Christmas and that Santa brought you something nice. 

Given the amount of time off there is at this time of year, and given how long it's been since I spent a lot of daily time and trouble on my hair and makeup, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get properly dolled up for as much of the holidays as possible. This is my first report ...

 

To summarise my 15-year old blog in one paragraph: I started feeling feminine very early in life, about 5-6 years old, started dressing as a girl regularly from about 8-9 years old, tried to suppress and purge in my 20s and then finally acknowledged and embraced the fact I was trans and have dressed as a woman every day for the last 30 years or so. I've considered transition and only ever wear women's clothes now, although I now rarely present as female in public, more a sort of andro figure which, truth be told, is not really me but is a compromise that prevents trouble, be it social or medical. The main block to living as a woman, which I did for much of 2010-14, was a bout of eczema on my face in the mid-2010s that made it impossible to wear makeup or remove facial hair. This check on my development as a trans person has been devastating. I've had to be very cautious since, in case the eczema flares up again. But it's been a while and I wondered if I could live as fully as I would like to for the Christmas season, with my nicest outfits that I rarely wear, full makeup, my boldest jewellery and my hair nice and full and long. 

I'm not sure whether to call this experiment after the carol, The 12 Days of Christmas (My True Love Sent to Me) ... Perhaps it'd be the 12 Days of Missmas, the 12 Babes of Christmas, the 12 Days of Dressmas/Frockmas ... hey, how about the 12 Dames of Dressmas? The 12 Drivels of Misnomer. Whatever, this is me being me for as long as I can and hoping that my skin holds out and there are not too many interruptions from causes other than social visits, shopping and the like.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, after shopping and deliveries, and exchanging presents with neighbours, I wore my floral shift dress (you've seen it before, notably in London last year), a black cardigan, black semi-opaque tights, and some black high-heeled court shoes. The weather was wet and very windy so I stayed indoors.

Perfume of the day: Forever by Laura Biagiotti.

Christmas Day 

Although still windy, Christmas Day dawned bright and it warmed up nicely to the point when I almost had lunch outdoors. Without the wind I would have done. But the finer weather meant I could wear a light cotton dress (the same as in July) and some 20 denier nude tights with open toed shoes and go out in the sunshine.

It was so sunny at the front that I had to squint or close my eyes. But let's face it, sunlight is blissful ...

 

Or I could go out back where it was shady but very windy so my hair got blown about ... 

 

Back indoors and about to start preparing Christmas dinner ...

 

And relaxing on the sofa out of the wind ...

 

I do like this little dress which I bought last year and it's unusual to get to wear it in winter but it's so mild at the moment.

Perfume of the day: Crystal Noir by Versace.

Boxing Day

I don't know why the 26th is called Boxing Day in Britain. When I was a kid I assumed it was because there was boxing on TV, which my grandfather always enjoyed watching. Somehow men like punching each other's heads, and good luck to them with that. Here in Italy it's called St Stephen's (I mean December 26th is called that, not punching heads). 

It was another sunny day but with much less wind. After a clear night, it was quite cool to start with, hence my choosing a warmer outfit than yesterday, a very old blue wool dress, the same black cardi as on Xmas Eve and my lovely and very comfortable knee-length boots which always go well with this dress. I also got out some party tights, a pretty silver brocade pair, which are very warm. Perhaps a bit more warmth than was needed in the end as the afternoon was almost springlike and I was happy to open all the doors to get plenty of fresh mild air into my home. 

Relaxing on the terrace among the herbs ... 

 

Overlooking the sea. You can either face the sun and squint (see previous day) or turn your back to the sun and be in shadow. I've had to correct the light to show any detail and that's given this shot a picture postcard look. I quite like this one.

 

I'm worried I'm looking old these days but it's not so bad in the right light! My makeup is much lighter than it used to be - a single layer of water-based foundation rather than the oil-based foundation and powder of yore - partly so as not to aggravate my skin, but also because my facial hairs grow more slowly and are no longer black. I guess that's one rare benefit of ageing.

Lazy time on the sofa. All this posing outdoors sure wears a girl out ...

The silver brocade tights were in fashion about 15 years ago and these are one of two pairs I got at the time (these by Gipsy). I think this style deserve revival as a party accessory. Strangely, the manufacturers call the colour "gunmetal" ... and if this is what guns look like these days then our armies must be very pretty! I think they go well with the blue and black of the outfit.

Perfume of the day: Poison by Dior. 

 

I'd genuinely like feedback on my style and above all on my makeup that I feel needs improvement. 

More on this experiment as it happens. Essential shopping and a social visit are on the menu today so if I'm back in a dress it'll only be for the evening. 

 

What did Santa bring?

Did Santa bring you something for your feminine side? I hope so. 

Very occasionally I've received feminine presents from thoughtful friends but I usually have to get myself anything I want in that line. This year I bought a pretty and unique ring at a jewellery stall in the Christmas market in Monaco. It's not exactly what I was looking for but I do love the way the stones seem to be stuck on my finger rather than to a ring. A rather clever effect. I rarely wear green clothing but I do like green stones or glass in my jewellery.

The colours were just right although I'd prefer not to have had a heart shaped element, which reminds me a little of an Irish claddagh ring, which you wear with the heart on the ring pointing out or in depending on whether or not you have a lover or are looking for one. There's a heart-stopping true claddagh Christmas story at the end if you want to read it.

 

Conclusion

More on this dressing experiment as it happens. Back in the early 2010s I would think nothing of being fully femme for a week or more at a stretch. I'm just wondering if I can recapture some of that. On Boxing Day I wore earrings that jangled and it was such an affirmation, as was my hair blowing about my face in the wind - irritating, yes, but so affirming, too. This is how life should have been ... as a woman, where even little annoyances feel right.

Thanks for reading and for your feedback. 

 

Sue's Fireside Tales continued: Christmas claddagh story

When I was a student, various university societies provided food and drink for the Christmas concert. Our quota was 60 mince pies. So the day before the concert we set to rolling, filling and baking. The president of our society was wearing a claddagh ring that had been passed down to her by her Irish grandmother. After several hours of hard work we contentedly contemplated our fresh-baked golden goodies, smelling of spiced fruit and warm pastry. And the pres went to wash her hands and cried out that her precious ring was missing. We now looked at our pies in dismay. Surely her ring hadn't got baked inside one? Would we have to break them all apart till her ring was found? And then redo all our work or turn up to the concert empty-handed? We decided to wait till they cooled before setting about the miserable task. So we started washing up the mixing bowls and utensils. And then, miraculously, in a tiny gobbet of unused pastry in one bowl was the ring. Never had any of us felt so relieved. 

So it turned out well in the end but I've never wanted to make mince pies again, or wear a claddagh ring myself. And also explains some of my hesitation with this ring for Christmas.

Sue xx  

Best wishes

 Just to wish you all a very happy holiday weekend. 

I love it when Christmas Day falls on a Thursday - if your work has a normal weekly pattern, you know you've now got four days off!

Here's my 2025 holiday greetings photo, taken at home just now. 

 

I hope to spend as much of the holiday period in nice dresses (and perfume) as I can and so I hope my TGirl friends manage to get some fem time, too, or a pretty something from Santa, or ideally both.

Here also is my annual photo of orange trees outside the front door. They always provide a bit of warm colour in winter.

 

They're ornamental oranges so you can't eat them, but you might be able to make marmalade from them. So let me also hope you enjoy plenty of nice food, whatever you're eating.

And I'll post again after the festivities.

Best wishes

Sue x 

Caught in the pre-Christmas rush?

 It doesn't seem to matter how carefully you plan, there are always some last minute hitches and stresses before Christmas. If that sounds like you as well as me, then draw up a chair, make a reviving coffee or relaxing tea, and maybe this will entertain or at least distract you for a bit. Including ... solstice celebrations, the best Christmas I ever had, dressing plans, more jellyfish news, and jokes at the end.

 

Solstice

Yesterday was the winter solstice, which is always a significant day for me as I really hate winter's short, cold days. I poured a small glass of prosecco and wished the sun well in its climb back to summer. The days get longer from now on; at least, in the Northern Hemisphere they do. Seriously, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is no joke and I've felt a lot healthier since moving to a much sunnier part of the world. 

It's actually been an amazingly mild end to the year and, incredible as it may sound, I've still not had to turn the central heating on. I hope that continues for a bit.

 

Reminiscing

This reflection on the season made me reminisce on the best Christmas I ever had, which was during the best holiday I ever had, exactly twenty years ago. My partner at the time originally came from New Zealand and we spent Christmas with her family. As an avid sun worshipper, this was the best Christmas for me because in the Southern Hemisphere it falls at midsummer. 

We took a month off work, flew to New York for a few days for sightseeing and to buy presents. I'd never been to the States before so this was all new. We left New York at evening time and, through the 23-hour flight, night kept up with us almost all the way to Sydney, Australia. You can also imagine that leaving New York on a dark, wintry evening and arriving in Sydney on a hot summer morning caused some pretty special jetlag. But Sydney is a place that struck me as very livable. (Presumably not if you're dressed as Father Christmas in 40 C heat, which was one of the odder sights there.) We stayed with my partner's friends in Canberra for a few days, too, one of the weirdest places I have ever been to: a city with no real centre. And then went on to New Zealand where we stayed a couple of nights in Auckland, another agreeable place, before reaching my partner's family's home in a small town in North Island.

Christmas in New Zealand is totally different from Christmas in Europe or North America. Christmas dinner was out in the sunny garden in T-shirts, with a barbecue going and fresh salads to eat; neighbours chatted across garden fences and would drop in on each other. You could even swim in the Pacific if you wanted but full bellies prevented us that day. Instead, we spent the afternoon putting a tent up in the garden that her nephews had been given as a present and they slept in it that night. Never done that in Europe on December 25th, I can tell you! 

We did go swimming in one of the lakes near volcanic Rotorua a few days later, though. We flew home via Los Angeles and Hollywood. So all very memorable.

We didn't marry in the end for various reasons ... my being trans being one of the lesser ones, at least. However, that means I am free to dress as I please now ...

 

Christmas plans

I'm spending the next couple of weeks at home, just dropping in on neighbours (not quite NZ style as you still need a coat) and enjoying the ongoing local holiday entertainments. As there's more time for dressing better, I aim to wear some nice outfits rather than my usual boring practical clothes and try to experiment with makeup a bit more. Being bolder with hair might be something to work on, too. Does this look a bit too Sixties? (I mean the era, not my age, cheeky!)

 

Life imitates art

Well, who'd have thought it! I've just posted about dancing glowing jellyfish illuminating the winter evening when I read that winds and currents have driven a large shoal of actual luminous jellyfish into the harbour at Bordighera where they are creating a blobby light spectacle all around the boats. It's very wet and windy today and I'd rather not go out but if I get to see this I will report back. I suspect the dancing jellyfish were more fragrant than these will be if they all die there, poor things!

 

Christmas crackers

Some Christmas jokes ...

 

I've just been reminiscing on some of our family Christmas traditions I knew as a kid. For instance, my mother would insist on giving us all a Christmas haircut every year.

Then we'd sit down to turkey with all the trimmings. 

*** 

This year's top charity Xmas single is "Duvet know it's Christmas".

It's a cover.

*** 

I've just had my Christmas card off Moonpig

Though she hates it when I call her that.

***

Please don't give me another of those silly Christmas jumpers. Last year I couldn't get it off no matter how hard I tried and in the end I ended up with it stuck round my head. 

I ended up in A&E being treated by a cardyologist.

*** 

And back to jellyfish...

Donald Trump was swimming off the coast of Florida when he was stung by a jellyfish.

"I felt this horrible, slimy blob brush against me. I felt so revolted and nauseous that I was nearly sick,"

said the jellyfish.

 

Well, thanks for reading these ramblings. I'll be posting my annual Christmas greetings in a couple of days. Try not to get stressed with the Xmas rush.

Sue x 

 

Riviera lights, markets... and dancing jellyfish

Here on the riviera a lot of effort is put into decorating towns at Christmas time and ensuring there is plenty going on to cheer up the darkest weeks of the year. Councils spend a lot of money on illuminations and entertainments. There are also various Christmas markets and funfairs. I'd like to show you some of the festive colour from the three largest settlements: Nice in France, Sanremo in Italy and Monte Carlo in Monaco. I'll provide my own commentary to photos and short film clips here, which you can click to enlarge or play, but you decide for yourselves what is most attractive according to your own tastes. Feel free to comment, and any descriptive vocabulary, from "wonderful" and "beautiful" to "tacky" and "naff", is entirely acceptable. These entertainments are all public and all free so I usually give feedback to the local authorities who are using our tax dollars euros to create them.

Piazza Borea d'Olmo, Sanremo, Italy, after the mayor switched on the lights.

 

Nice, capital of the riviera

Nice has a typically long, straight, wide shopping boulevard, Avenue Jean Médecin, culminating in a vast city square, Place Masséna, which has public parks on either side. The avenue has every other tree decorated in white fairy lights and, coupled with shops' and bars' own window displays, looks both pretty and grand.

 

The square contains the Fountain of the Sun (Fontaine du Soleil), with a huge statue of the sun god, unshamedly naked. Also unashamed is the vast animatronic anthropomorphic animal advert for French ski resorts that surrounds it. Ha! the winter olympics are in Italy and presumably French resorts risk losing money, is the cynic's retort here! But we are no cynics, are we? (cyniques? nous? parbleu!) and we quite enjoy the display with its flocked trees and happy skiing bears (bears do ski, don't they?)

 

Place Masséna with Christmas tree illuminations. The illuminated kneeling statues on poles are a permanent art installation. 

Place Masséna with flocked Christmas trees and lit up ferris wheel. Only in Nice can you be mooned by the sun! We wish you a botty Christmas! 

 

Rabbits kissing in the snow. I'm not sure this sort of thing should be encouraged: just one rabbit kiss and, before you know it, you're knee-deep in bunnies!

 

The neighbouring Jardins Albert Ier (Albert I [of Monaco] Gardens), however, have some illuminated winter-themed sculptures surrounded by water, all for free. Polar bears, reindeer, elves, penguins, presents, trees, lanterns ...

By day ...

 

 By night ...

 

The surrounding water is only a centimetre deep which makes it safe and creates a mirror effect. 

This is the offering at the south west end of the Alps and I was keen to see it so as to compare it to Violetta's description on her lovely blog of a similar display called Lumagica in Innsbruck, Austria, at the eastern end of the Alps (link to Violetta's post: Hofgarten - Lumagica).

On the other side of the square is the ferris wheel that operates all year, and under it is a Christmas market and funfair. The market, like the sculptures, is free to get in but with security "comme à l'aéroport," as the security guy said to me... and he wasn't wrong. (They're very security conscious here in Nice after the 2016 Bastille Day attack when a terrorist drove a truck into hundreds of promenaders.)

The market is pretty and kids can meet Santa (for a fee) but the prices are silly. Everything in Nice is up to twice the price of stuff across the border in Italy, which is precisely why I live on that side of the border and not this one!

 

 

Sanremo, City of Music

I went to the switching-on ceremony in Sanremo, which was well-attended by families and, this being the City of Music, began with a long musical preamble in one of the central squares with music of several genres from pop to gospel, with an orchestra concert nearby. The light projections in the square and the illuminated Christmas sculptures that you can walk into were fun. Certainly magical for children who loved being part of the display.

 

 

  

The main illuminations are not just for the Christmas season but are intended to last through to the end of the huge Sanremo Music Festival at the end of February 2026, so the high street is festooned with lights right down its length.

The Festival is housed mainly in the massive Ariston Theatre that takes up the best part of a city block and was built in the 1970s so the theatre's neon signs are of funky Seventies stars and their funky hairdos. Groovy, man!

The highlight of the entertainment, though, had to be the trio of dancing jellyfish. Yes, you read that right. To various catchy Christmas hits, a troupe of four-metre (twelve-foot) high jellyfish pranced about the town entertaining (and endangering) the crowds. 

 

Watch for yourselves:

 

All together With Mariah Carey now: "All I want for Christmas is ...plankton."

Sanremo has a large funfair by the beach and an ice rink in the main square where the town's actual live pine tree is fully illuminated, with various other sculptures.

 

I'm pleased to see that illuminated decorations go right down the coast road through town for many miles. The also decorated the ugly concrete security blocks (to prevent a Nice copycat attack) to look like Christmas gifts, which is pleasing.

 

 

Monaco and Monte Carlo

Monaco has a lot of money and they don't stint on big displays. The old town on the rock (Le Rocher) is more traditional in its offerings. The palace has a line of Christmas trees outside between the cannons, all decked out in red.

 

It was fun to watch the daily changing of the guard with the festive tree backdrop.

 

With music if you prefer...

 

Down below at the main harbour, Port Hercule, there is a Christmas funfair and market, and a skating rink on what is normally the outdoor pool.

 

The funfair is better than the ones in Nice and Sanremo, being much more family friendly with good rides and better stuff for kids. And the market wins hands down over the one in Nice since the prices are entirely acceptable. I got some spiced tea for Christmas in preference to that from my usual outlet in Italy, and I also found the kind of unusual rings I've been looking for for some years and bought one that I really like ... more on that in another post.

The ice rink is certainly unique. Where else can you skate surrounded by fancy yachts and belle époque architecture?

 

The main Christmas decorations are in Monte Carlo, though, outside the Casino and the Café de Paris, and in the neighbouring Boulingrin Gardens. These are altogether on a different scale with a huge decorated Christmas tree, many smaller decorated trees and shrubs, and half a dozen huge glass balls containing tableaux of goofy animatronic reindeer doing various Christmassy things. See for yourselves ...

 

 

 

 

 

So here are just some of the lights, decorations and entertainments on the riviera this winter. There's a whole lot to be said another time about Christmas nativity scenes, which are a big tradition along this whole coast. In fact, villages and parishes can get quite competitive about it as the local crib is often a tribute to local craftsmanship and local pride, especially when a model of the locality stands in for Bethlehem. From the vast nativity scene with 300 statues that takes up half a hillside at Manarola to this tiny one carved in a wine cork that formed part of the crib displays around the palace at Monaco, it's something that's very much part of the winter festivities in this whole area. 

 

There's a lot to be said about winter flower displays, too, as flowers bloom all year in the mild climate. I'll stop here, though, as I have Christmas preparations to get on with. But I'll be posting again before Christmas. Good luck with your own preparations.

 

 

Sue x